I think the marble naysayers have jumped on the bandwagon without really living with the stone. I have statuary in my bathrooms and love it. Most stains can be removed with a simple baking soda and water poultice. Acid etching is harder to deal with since it removes the polished surface, but its part of having a living stone in your home. If it becomes too bad, you can have it repolished. With a darker stone, you won't have as many issues as a white marble. In order to really know if you can live with it, I suggest you get a small sample of the stone and do some tests. Here is an example. http://www.dohiy.com/2013/04/21/marble-countertops-the-post-acid-test/ Please note that she used bleach and oxyclean to clean the stone after her test. Stay away from both since they can etch the stone just as much as an acidic food. Instead, clean with a ph neutral cleaner like isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), and for heavy stains, the baking soda poultice mentioned above. You have to remember that marble has been used for centuries as flooring, table tops, countertops, etc. throughout the world and most of these installations are still here and aren't stained and etched to the point that it has been ripped out and replaced. Just think about all of he luxury hotels in Europe and how many times they have been exposed to Hangover type guests without any damage.

Hello Ms Vijaya Yes, I was referring to the old post wherein you gave the details of your requirement. But it is somehow missing in the feed now. Installing a chimney (T shaped one) shouldn't be an issue even if you have a window. You could ask the carpenter to take a vertical support plank (of 18 mm ply) from the wall just above the window. Just to not let that support plank hanging, the bottom of the plank should be fixed to the grill of the window. In this way, you do not have to compromise on the ventilation from that particular window. Make sure dimensions of the plank are aligned with the hood of the chimney and also the height at which it has to be fixed. Something like below. Backsplash gives a splendid look to the kitchen as well as it is easy to maintain. You can also have digital prints to suit your taste, instead of a plain one. The negative sides of a glass backsplash are that it is relatively expensive and prone to shattering. Few things to bear in mind are before going ahead with glass backsplash - the electrical points and any other fixtures on the dado wall should be decided along with the dimensions as provisions have to be made for that in the glass before toughening it. Stick the glass to a ply panel and do not fix it using studs. Now coming to the overall design keeping in mind the aesthetic appeal, below are my assumptions: 1. West facing flat. 2. Your sink tap is on the East wall, near to the toilet. 3. Provision of pooja unit is not required in the kitchen. 4. Crockery to be placed in a separate unit near dining. 5. Kitchen should have maximum storage capacity. A look of a kitchen is decided by parameters like color combination, lighting, quality and type of the shutter material. In the below edited pic, I have given the possible spots for fridge, sink, breakfast unit, platform. You can have two L shaped plaforms (in red) along all the four walls. The placement of sink is indicated by orange boxes and you can opt for either of the position. It is not suitable on the East platform as it will be very close to the cooking range. Never have the sink at the extreme end of a platform, it will impede your movement near the sink and the space underneath is partially lost. The fridge's position can be either on the West side or South side. If you opt for placement on the West side, place a partition unit made of ACP/MDF fret work to hide the back of the fridge (line in yellow) and also to enhance the look of it when viewed from living area. Breakfast unit is indicated by brown box and take care that the dimensions will not hinder your free walking way to the kitchen. Place pendant lights over the breakfast counter. The space/wall to the left of the breakfast unit can be either used for storage or for placing some decor items/artefacts. Tall unit on the North-West platform has two options - in either of the platform corners. I would suggest to have it on the North side corner (beside the utility door). This tall unit can either house your microwave, oven etc. or just use the entire unit by placing shelves. Please refer to the below link for my suggestions on the color combination https://www.houzz.in/discussions/we-want-our-kitchen-to-be-renovated-dsvw-vd~5386939 Go for high gloss laminates/acrylic/PU finish for the skin of the shutters as per your budget. To further enhance the look: - Use under cabinet lighting, profile doors with spot lights inside, some contrast color open boxes in the cabinets (above the platform) to break the monotony. - Go for simple plain false ceiling and place track lights wherever you want to highlight. - Go for ample LEDs with daylight temperature. - Plan to have a handle less cabinetry (both over and under platform). You have the provision to use corner units, tall unit, rolling shutters, wicker baskets and even an island if you really want it (though I would not recommend). If you need help in designing your kitchen and putting it all together in a 3-D view, contact an interior designer. Srikanth Meticular Interiors

Many thanks for your valuable comments. 1. My intention of raised cabinets was to clean it daily, as cabinets that touch floor accumulate lot of dust and food particles below. If we rule out steel legs, any inputs on raised floor only of cabinet area and then cabinets?(Just like plinth in modular cabinets- but this will be permanent and of tiles) I have not seen such structure anywhere, so curious if it will work. Otherwise I will go with traditional ones. 2. Moving pooja out of kitchen is very difficult as other rooms are just enough for their function. Currently a small Mandir is attached on wall where Fridge is shown in layout. I thought the new area could be little extra for all pooja related things. Will like to know the reason of your recommendation, is it odd in whole design, or not suitable in area .. or anything else? How about moving it to corner of dining area?

I have used both with good results. The main difference between Quartz and Granite are 1) price, 2) colour range. Granite generally works out cheaper, because you can buy the exact quantity you require. Quartz comes in large slabs of specific sizes- standard size being roughly 10'-0" x 4'6", so there tends to be more wastage if you don't plan the cutting well. But Quartz is pretty and comes in a wide range of colours and can be re-buffed at a later date. Quartz also comes in various thicknesses- the most commonly used being .75" to about 1.25". And especially when you use dark wood cabinets in a kitchen or bathroom, beige and white counter tops work very well. Some people go even with coloured counter tops like blue, orange, yellow. Natural stone in light colours tend to be porous and stain easily, so I prefer to go with pure black which is safe.